Trials of a Rehket
by Demonic Daydreams
Summary: When 16 year old Tara Travis's mother is killed in a car crash she's taken from her home in Lincoln Park Michigan to Brooklyn House where things continue to get stranger and stranger. Follow the Trials of a Rehket while she learns to deal with teen drama.


**A/N: Hello! Let me give you a bit of an update on what's going on here. **

**This is 6 years after they defeated Apophis and I decided that I couldn't let go of all my favorite characters. Here are some of the characters I've included (as well as one's that will be coming up):**

**Cleo,  
she's a book person (like me) so naturally I put her in. **

**Alyssa,**

**Will be showing up later on. **

**Shelby,**

**I LOVED THE LITTLE ANKLE-BITER! Anyone else?**

**Felix,**

**In all of his penguin-glory, shall be included. **

**Walt/Anubis,**

**I am a huge Sanubis freak so of course I'd put in Walt/Anubis. **

**Zia,**

**She will make an appearance later in the fic**

**Bast, **

**I really liked Bast so I want to bring her back….Sadly, I have no clue how. Any ideas? Message me. **

**Bes, **

**The lovable dwarf god will show up at some point in the fic but, as it is with Bast, I have no idea how to get him here. **

**Amos, **

**As Chief Lector he is pretty much REQUIRED in a Kane Chronicles fic. **

**Jaz, **

**I needed a sort of motherly figure for my character and as I've put it, Jaz fits the role perfectly. **

**If you have any characters that you want included (or if you have your own idea for an initiate) message me. I'm always open to suggestions and this is quite a flexible fic. **

* * *

_**1. My Birthday Goes Horribly Wrong**_

**T**

_A_

**R**

_A_

Hiya! This is Tara here and this is my story. I decided to record this as a sort of log for my studies but then things got all weird and well, you'll wanna hear my story.

All of my troubles started the day my Mother gave me a razor blade.

It was my 16th birthday and my Mother had gone out to god-knows-where on one of her crazy errands. When she came back she had a small silver gift bag in her hand. I was doing my usual stuff; just lounging on the couch watching re-runs of my favorite show, Avatar the Last Airbender and munching on Doritos. Even though it was my birthday we never did anything special, the only time we'd ever done something big for my birthday was my 5th birthday party (my Mom's first attempt at a party.) We'd gone to Chucky Cheese and….it's complicated. It involved a guy in a mouse suit, the animatrons that play on the stage, the overhead play area and a swarm of psychotic munchkins.

"Tara," My Mother cooed my name softly.

I paused my show and looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. She came over and sat next to me then put the bag in my lap. At first I was wondering why she'd gotten me a gift. She never got me gifts for my birthday. She was usually off at the college giving another Egyptology lecture to her class. When she'd get home we'd have ice-cream cake and watch a movie I wanted to—usually The Princess Bride, or Avatar (the one with the blue people). But I wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth so I reached into the bag and pulled out an amulet, it looked like a _netjeri_ blade just tinier and not as sharp. It was on a thin obsidian chain and it gleamed whenever the light hit it.

The moment I saw it a large grin spread across my features. Unlike the other kids at my school I was actually interested in Egypt and other ancient civilizations like Greece and Rome. After I put it on I crushed my Mom in a huge squeeze-the-breath-out-of-your-lungs hug. She hugged back quickly and then her watch beeped.

I knew that beep.

It meant she had an important lecture or lesson that she was late for. She sighed softly and pulled away from our hug. She tucked a strand of my black hair behind my ear and smiled lovingly at me. She gave me that smile that made me feel as if I were the most important thing in her world. I guess I was considering all of my brothers were off with my Dad on a trip around the world for 5 years. It was just her and I, and I didn't want it any other way.

"I'm sorry I have to go again but I'll be back tonight and we'll have ice-cream cake and watch a movie of your choice."

"The Princess Bride," I immediately said.  
My Mom chuckled happily and nodded.  
"Whatever makes you happy, darling." She said and stood up. That's what she always said when I'd asked for something. It was always "Whatever makes you happy, darling." I'll admit I was a bit spoiled but I didn't let that go to my head. Before she walked out of the house she smiled at me one last time.

"I love you Tara," She said softly.

"Love you too, Mom." I replied and she walked out the door.

Little did I know that would be the last time I saw my Mom alive.

After about an hour I started channel surfing, flipping from one station to the next when I came across the local news. I was about to change it when the reporter said the words that stopped me dead in my tracks; "…..a head on collision between a 2012 Cadillac CTS and a 79' Ford Bronco. Sheila Travis was killed upon impact. Jackson Cole, the driver of the Bronco, fled the scene and is still at large." My mouth fell open and I sat there, gaping at the T.V as a helicopter gave an overview of the scene. The entire front part of the car had collapsed into the drivers compartment and two men dressed in blue outfits that belonged in a hospital pushed a gurney with a white shroud bound over whoever was underneath, I could only assume that the body underneath was my Mother's.  
Once I'd regained my senses I shot up and pulled on my boots—I grew up with boys my entire life so I had to be tough and boots always delivered an extra-harsh blow to the groin when needed—and had enough time to slip on my black hoodie before bolting out the door and down the street.

It was warm and humid outside but at the time I didn't notice, I just kept running. The scene of the crash was nearly a mile away from my house and I certainly wasn't any runner but I didn't let that stop me. When I reached the accident I was sweaty and my breathing was rapid. There was a large crowd forming around the sight but I didn't bother to ask politely to be let through I just barreled my way through.

"Mom!" I screamed at the top of my lungs into the commotion.

"Mom! Where are you?" I cried again but once again my words were swallowed up in the chaos of the crowd. I cursed silently to myself as hot tears leaked out of my eyes and ran down my cheeks. The sirens of the ambulance wailed in front of my and my vision had become blurred from the tears that were steadily leaking out of my eyes.  
She couldn't be _gone_, she was my Mom. She'd always been there for me and then she just abandons me like that?

I know it was selfish thinking but I had to find some way to say that she _wasn't _dead. So many memories flooded through me that I couldn't focus on anything, and oh the noise! Nobody would shut up!  
They just stood and gawked at the wreckage of my Mom's car. I heard those making comments as they looked on.

"Oh, a car's hood isn't supposed to look like that." one said.

"I wonder what's going to happen to the driver of the Bronco." said a passerby.

"I feel sad for the driver, he must be devastated." commented an older woman.

"I wonder if the woman has any family…."  
Their comments were so heartbreaking and they made me realize the fact that she wasn't ever coming back. I tried pinching myself, hoping that when I did I'd wake up on the couch and my Mom would come home. Then we'd have our ice-cream cake and watch The Princess Bride just to make fun of the guy who talks weird when he's wedding Buttercup and Humperdink.

She wasn't gone.

She couldn't be gone.

She _shouldn't _be gone.  
But deep in my heart I knew that I was lying to myself.

And worst of all, I couldn't do anything about it.

I felt so helpless, so helpless that it was infuriating.

All my life I have been helpless, unable to stop bad things from happening to everyone and the worst insult yet was having my Mother die on my birthday.

I clenched my fists so tightly and I could've sworn I was trembling; the _netjeri _blade around my neck began to ever so slightly rise in temperature. The next thing I did surprised both me and everyone around me. At the top of my lungs I yelled "_Hah-ri_!" Some silver hieroglyphs burned in the air and everyone around me collapsed. Suddenly everything was silent even the sirens for the ambulance were silent. I had no idea what I'd just done.

Was that Egyptian?

Why had hieroglyphs showed up in the air?

What did they mean?

Did _I _summon them?

Why did everyone collapse?

Why weren't the sirens making any noise?

Am I going crazy? (I was seriously thinking this one was true. Wouldn't you be freaking out?)

What do I do now?

HOW THE HECK DID I DO THAT?

These and so many questions burned in my brain so brightly. But before I could figure any of them out I began to feel light-headed and dizzy. I couldn't seem to focus on anything and a few random people scattered around the crowd began to come to. Soon I couldn't even hold myself up and then my knees buckled, I would've fallen and cracked my head on the pavement but at the last second a woman caught me. I had just enough time to make out her features. She had bright blue eyes and hair that wasn't blonde but it wasn't brown. She had creamy white skin and a blue streak in her hair by her left eye. Then my vision went dark and I passed out.

When I came to I was in a large room. It was lavish and posh with all the newest tech stuff like LCD Flat Screens and huge sound-systems. There was a mini-fridge by the bed and over near the other end of the room there was a tiny microwave. When I sat up my head was pounding and I was so dizzy my stomach threatened to throw up my nonexistent breakfast. I glanced over and there was another bed in the room that was empty and neatly made. Now all of this was okay, I'd figured a nice police officer had just sent me to my Godmother Lindsey (who was extremely rich), until I noticed the baboon. He sat there wearing an L.A Lakers jersey with a box of Cheerios in his hand. I stared at him and he stared at me for a few long seconds. Then he bared his teeth, which I assumed was his attempt at a smile, and grunted at me a few times.

"_Agh! Agh!" _Then he set down the box, slapped his head with both hands, and belched. This was getting weirder and weirder.

I rose and eyebrow as I wondered what to say. Finally I managed to croak, "Umm…I don't speak baboon."

He seemed to nod and then he walked out of the room, flashing his multi-colored rear end on the way out.

I slammed my head back down just to make contact with something very hard. I sat back up and rubbed the back of my head as I looked down at my pillow. Actually it wasn't a pillow it was some sort of ivory head rest with some kind of large feline and hieroglyphs carved into it. I studied the headrest carefully as it had intrigued me. I was about to get up and out of bed but the moment my feet hit the floor a wave of nausea swept over me. A woman burst into the room. She had blonde hair and looked bright and happy but she frowned the moment she saw me trying to get out of bed.

She walked up to me and swatted my legs.

"Don't get out of bed! You'll hurt yourself even more, now lie down and let me get to work on you." She said her western accent thick in her voice.

I sighed and lay back down as she'd said to but my mind was buzzing with all sorts of thoughts. I tried to speak but my mouth felt as if it were full of sand. I kept wetting it and clearing my throat but nothing worked. Finally I gave up on speaking and let the woman work. Apparently I was more beat up than I thought. There were numerous bruises and scratches on my arms, legs and torso. It took me a second to realize that I didn't have those before I'd passed out.

I glanced over at the woman desperately but she was busy working. There was a slight crease to her brow as she chanted and concentrated on the deeper gashes. My skin itched and felt like someone had poured alcohol on it. I had to resist the urge to scream. Finally the woman stopped and pursed her lips, and then she nodded in satisfaction. A smile spread back across her lips as she turned to walk out. I was able to get my mouth working just in time.

"Wait!" I'd called out to her. She turned around and focused on me with her kind gaze, her smile still small and soft, almost sympathetic.

"What is it, hon?" She asked showing that she was genuinely concerned.

"W-What's going on here? The last thing I remember was running out to the scene of my Mom's car crash and I screamed something—"

"Sadie said you yelled Hah-ri, Quiet." The woman cut in politely. I nodded as I remembered the words I'd yelled.

"Th-Then like silver hieroglyphs burned in the _air._ Then I passed out into some woman's arms. When I woke up there was some baboon in my room—"

"Khufu," The woman said politely. At first I thought she'd sneezed or something but then I realized that was the baboon's name. Normally I hated being interrupted but I didn't mind it now because I was getting _some_ answers.

"And I don't know where I am…..My Mom…." Tears stung my eyes again and I tried to blink them back. I slowly sat up and wiped away the tears. The woman looked at me with sympathy before walking over and wrapping her arm around my shoulder and sitting next to me on the bed.

"It's okay sweetie, I know things are confusing and strange right now but they'll all make sense soon enough. We heard about your Mom and we came rushing to the scene to help. She—she was a great friend of ours, y'know. Sadie was a bit late and she wasn't affected by your magic so when we all came to, we brought you back here, to the Brooklyn House."

I sniffled quietly as the tears still streaked down my face. I was so grief stricken at the time I didn't really process a lot of what she'd said.

"C—can I get a full explanation from whoever owns this place of why I'm here?" I asked as I sniffed again.  
The woman nodded slowly. "In due time but for now, you have to sleep. Your little spell back there cost you a lot. You've been out for 3 days."

My eyes widened and I looked at her in disbelief. "3 days!" I yelled.

"Shhh," She said softly. "Not so loud, you don't want to wake the younglings. But, yes, you've been in the Brooklyn House for three days, a lot of the initiates who train under me as healers didn't think you'd make it. Now, get some real sleep." The woman said and stood up.

I nodded and lay down. "Wait," I said before she left. She turned her head back to me and raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?" I asked softly, the question coming out as a gravelly rasp. She smiled sweetly at me and for a moment she looked just like my Mother.

"I'm Jasmine but you may call me Jaz." She said and was about to leave yet again when she remembered something. "Oh, and what ever you do"—at this point her voice grew very serious—"don't sleep without the headrest." And with that she'd slipped out of the room leaving me in the empty room, staring at the ceiling. At some point in time I fell asleep but it must've been a bit fitful because when I woke my sheets were on the floor.

"Ooooh! You're awake!" shrieked a voice that was definitely female next to me. I winced at the pain because I could've sworn that dolphins in Florida would've heard her.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She said walking up to my bed. I rubbed my temples and sighed.

"It's okay, and may I ask, who are you?" I asked her as politely as I could.

"Name's Shelby, I've been at the Brooklyn House since I was 5." She said simply.

I looked over her closely. She had long, frizzy red hair, bright green eyes and a ton of freckles on her face. She was a bit shorter than me, a bit skinnier than I was, she wore a ton of amulets around her neck, and she had a look on her face that was as if she'd seen the end of the world. At the time I didn't know but she actually had seen Doomsday, otherwise known around the House of Life as the Rising of Apophis.

I slowly sat up and noticed all my bruises, and cuts were gone and the pounding in my head had stopped.

"Feeling better?" Shelby asked tentatively.

I nodded.

"Good, then you better go and find Carter or Sadie, although I think you'd wanna see Sadie instead." I nodded slowly as my grogginess faded. After a long minute I stood up and slowly made my way downstairs.

When I peeked over the balcony I looked down and my eyes went wide. The place was _HUGE_ and I was on the top floor. My jaw went slack as I studied the room below me. There was a statue of a god with the head of an ibis holding a scroll and stylus. For some reason the gods' name at the time eluded my memory. His toes had been colored blue and green which I found very odd. It looked quite sloppy so I assumed little kids had done it. The statue had somehow become a huge coat rack because hoodies and rain coats hung off the statue.

It looked as if at least a hundred pairs of shoes, all ranging in sizes from those of full grown adults to kindergarteners, littered a snake-skin rug that looked way to big to be real. My eyes swept over to the large fireplace that looked as if it could fit a Hummer in it and instead of fire there was a Winter Wonderland in it, completed with about 3 penguins waddling about inside it. My eyebrow rose higher and higher until in threatened to escape as the place below me began to look stranger and stranger. I saw Khufu the baboon walking around, this time with a basketball propped under his arm. He turned his head up to look at me and made a few grunting noises. A young woman opened the double doors that lead into another room on the lower level.

Khufu looked over at her, grunted another few times and then pointed at me. The girl looked up at me and smiled softly. She nodded thoughtfully and grunted back to him.

She spoke _baboon?_

That was the weirdest thing next to waking up with the baboon in my room. She looked up and waved down, beckoning for me to join her. I snapped out of my daze and slowly descended the spiral staircase until I reached the bottom and she joined me in front of the statue of the ibis-headed god. She smiled warmly while Khufu continued to study me. "Hello, I'm Cleo and welcome to the Brooklyn House. This room here is called the Great Room." She said as she leaned on the statue.

I nodded and mumbled, "I can see how it could be called that."

She let out an amused laugh. "Well, we've heard about your mother, Tara, and she was a great friend of ours. She really helped us."

My head snapped in her direction as she said my name. "How do you know my—"

"Your mother talked about you a lot." Cleo cut in. "Now I'm sure you're wondering why you're here. Well, I guess I could begin to explain to you while we wait for Carter and Sadie to finish up with their lessons. Come with me," Cleo said and then turned around, walking back into the room she'd come from. I slowly followed her and saw many iPads, laptops, books, and other things littering the tables in the room.

"This is the Library." She said but I had to admit, this place looked nothing like any library I'd seen.

There were holes in the walls which made me think this place was like the worlds largest bee-hive. Inside the honeycomb walls were scrolls in plastic tubes, one tube for each hole. I looked up and saw a mural of the sky goddess Nut looking down on us and when I looked down there was a mural of the earth god Geb.

"Woah," I mumbled and Cleo chuckled again.

"Yes this place is very _woah._" She said with a hint of amusement in her voice. She went up to one of the statues. "Get me the scroll of _The Blood of the Pharaohs._" At first I thought this woman was a complete nutcase but then the statue stood up and walked over to one of the walls. It retrieved a cylinder and handed it to Cleo before returning to its pedestal. She nodded over toward one of the empty table and walked over, I followed.

She took out a scroll and unrolled it on the table. It was huge to say the least, covered in hieroglyphs that I couldn't read.

"This here is a scroll documenting The Blood of the Pharaohs; the people who have the blood of the pharaohs in them make excellent magicians as well as great hosts for gods. Think of this scroll as the paper version of an ancestry website except this kept the records all the way back to Ancient Egypt."

I looked at her as if she'd dropped from another planet. She seemed amused by my look and continued explaining.

"Here at the Brooklyn House we train kids with the blood of the pharaohs to follow the path of the gods. You may excel at Combat Magic which means you could be a good host for Horus, you could be great with Death Magic which would make you an excellent host for Anubis, although that probably won't happen considering Anubis is quite happy with Walt." Cleo mumbled the last part, seeming to lose her train of thought. She quickly regained it though. "Anyway, you could be a _sau_ or charm-maker such as your roommate, Shelby. Or a _rehket_, a necromancer, if you were a _rehket_ you'd be our first in years here at the Brooklyn House. There are many different things you can do and follow here in the Brooklyn House that the House of Life hasn't taught in ages."

"Excuse me but, what's the House of Life?" I asked tentatively.

"It's the organization of magicians; the headquarters is in the First Nome, Egypt."

"Um, did you say gnome?"

"Ugh, I always forget." She mumbled to herself. "No not Gnome but Nome, N-O-M-E. In olden times Egypt was divided into different districts called nomes. Today it's a bit different, we've gone global. There are 360 nomes spread across the entire world. As I mention the First Nome is in Egypt and the Three-Hundred and Sixtieth is in Antarctica. We're currently in the Twenty-First Nome, also known as greater New York."

I slowly nodded as the information sank in.

"Oooookay, so you're telling me my mother was a magician?" I asked slowly and carefully, I was actually waiting for someone to jump out from behind one of the statues and yell "Surprise!" Sadly, no such thing happened.

"Yes, your mother was a Diviner, a very rare ability found among magicians. After the House of Life had defeated Apophis, the gods retreated to the heavens and our former chaperone Bast had left us, the Chief Lector sent us a bunch of adult magicians to supervise us as well as teach us. Your mother was among them. She was one of Jaz's teachers, y'know, so Jaz is taking her death really hard . . . . . She made Carter, Sadie, Walt, and Jaz promise that if anything ever happened to her that we'd take you in and teach you everything we could. Now that time has come." Cleo sniffed, as if she'd been just about to cry. I couldn't believe that all these people had missed my Mother that much. "Soon Carter and Sadie will have you tested and we will determine what your specialty is." She continued as if nothing had happened.

"Okay, I have a few more questions." I said.

"Ask away."

"Okay, number one who and what is the Chief Lector?"

"He's the pharaoh's lead magician and right hand man. He leads the House of Life when the pharaoh can't."

"Number two, who's the pharaoh?"

"Carter Kane,"

"Number three, who are Carter and Sadie Kane?"

"They're the son and daughter of Dr. Julius Kane and Ruby Kane, Dr, Kane is the current host for Osiris. They lead us in the fight against Apophis and brought most of us here. When they first learned about the rising of the Chaos Snake 6…no maybe 7 or 8 years ago they recorded their events. Then they put the _djed_ amulet of Osiris in a box and sent it out into the world. They put it in a school, put a certain combination on it and then sent their recording to be transcribed by a man named Rick Riordan. Then initiates started coming, first Walt in Seattle, then Jaz from Nashville, Felix, Julian from Boston, Alyssa from Carolina, Sean from Dublin and myself from Rio. There are many, many others now but I'd be standing here for hours if I were to name all of them. A few others joined us like Shelby and the other ankle-biters—"

"Ankle-biters?" I asked.

"The youngest initiates at the time, when we defeated Apophis, Shelby was in kindergarten and might I say she did amazing on the battle field."

"You let her fight as a kindergartener?" I asked, wide-eyed.

"Of course we did! She was already a great magician. Sometimes her crayons would morph into weapons and then of course the sparks flying from her shoes, not to mention the red, white and blue unicorn on the Fourth of July all those years ago."

"Wow," I mumbled.

"Mhm, now let's see, is there anything I'm missing?" Cleo mused to herself as she rolled the scroll back up and placed it in the cylinder.

"Why can the statues move?"

"They're _shabti _which means 'answerer'. There are all sorts of _shabti_. There are retrieval _shabti_, answering _shabti_ and many, many more. They're almost always made of clay or wax and can vary in size. Now remember with the _shabti,_ if you ever make your own little answerer that you carry around, cut off its legs at the knees or cut off its feet."

"Why? That sounds horrible!"

"It's either that or have your _shabti _try to animate in perfect form and try to kill you."

"I think I'll cut off its legs."

"Good choice." Cleo mumbled, nodding her head approvingly.

"Another thing, when I cast that one spell that put everyone to sleep around me why did hieroglyphs burn in the air and how come I suddenly knew those words?"

"Well your mother was a great Egyptologist; it may have been deep in your memory and just surfaced at that time. As for the hieroglyphs that's the release of the energy. You see Ancient Egyptian is called the Divine Words because it is the language of creation, the language of magic, the language of Ma'at."

"And Ma'at is . . . .?"

"Order and harmony, the House of Life is around to keep Ma'at balanced and not allow Chaos to overwhelm the world. Or else we'll have a repeat of Doomsday."

"Ummmm, DOOMSDAY?"

Cleo nodded as if this were general information.

"Yes, what do you think the Rising of Apophis was? Didn't you notice all the storms, earth quakes and flash floods that occurred simultaneously throughout the world?"

I shook my head and she sighed, exasperated.

"Cleo," Called a voice at the entrance of the room. We both turned to see a woman with blonde-ish hair and a blue streak by her left eye standing there.

"I can take it from here Cleo, good work by the way. You covered pretty much everything." Cleo smiled and nodded tiredly before yawning and walking toward the exit. "Get some sleep Cleo; you need it after staying up last night." Cleo only nodded and waved as she walked out.

Once she was gone the woman smiled warmly at me.

"Hi, I'm Sadie Kane, I found you out by the car wreck."

I smiled and nodded to her. "Cleo told me a bit about your fight with the Chaos Snake."

Sadie nodded. "Yep, it was definitely a crazy time for my brother and I. Now why don't we get you started with your test, since Cleo has already caught you up on history and the basics of magic?"

She grabbed a scroll of papyrus, a stylus and some ink, and set them on the table in front of me. "Let's start with something simple. But first a tiny lesson, the Egyptian word _shesh_ means scribe or writer but it can also mean magician. This is because magic, at its most basic, turns words into reality. You will create a scroll. Using your own magic, you will send power into the words on the paper. When spoken, the words will unleash magic. Now to start off we're going to try a few basic hieroglyphs that will show us what you're specialty may be. But you'll have to be careful, it can't be anything too big or else you'll burn up your magic supply and then you'll literally burn up."

I gulped as she said this but nodded anyway. We spent the next twenty minutes or so going through hieroglyphs and attempting to get me to summon something. When I tried to summon an element I failed miserably. When I tried to summon an animal it pooped on the floor. She had me try to summon some form of healing supplies but it came out as poison. Finally she had me summon mummy linen. I had no idea why she wanted me to but she showed me the hieroglyphs to make it out and I wrote them. The mummy linen appeared on the table and I had to admit it was the easiest to summon.

"Was that easy for you?" She asked, noticing the look of triumph on my face. I nodded and then felt light headed again. I was able to make it to a chair before I collapsed.

"Does this happen to every one?"

"Pretty much, considering you're a brand new initiate. But that was good, very good actually. And I think I've figured out your specialty. I'll have Walt come in and get in a small private lesson with you. He's going to be so excited, his first student." She mumbled the last sentence and then heard my stomach rumble.

"Looks like we're just in time because lunch is starting out on the terrace, come on, follow me." She said, taking my hand and helping me out of the chair. We walked out onto the terrace and I saw at least a hundred kids swarming. There was a large buffet and multiple tables set up. It even looked as if they'd put something over the swimming pool to fit even more tables. The place was buzzing with activity and everyone was talking, chatting and eating. But when they noticed Sadie and I reach the terrace they all stopped and looked at us. The odd thing was it wasn't like they were staring, they were smiling warmly at me and their eyes seemed comforting.

I got the feeling then that I was going to like this place.

"Tara!" A voice called out that I recognized. It was Shelby. She was sitting over by Jaz, waving for me to join her. Sadie nudged my arm. "Go on, I have to talk to Carter and Walt." She said and then walked off over toward two dark skinned boys, one was a bit lighter than the other and had curly hair.

I walked off toward Shelby and sat down in between her and Jaz.

"You gonna eat? Here, you can come up with me." Shelby said as she stood and grabbed my hand. Everyone then began to return to their normal conversations while Shelby and I helped ourselves to the buffet. I grabbed some macaroni and cheese, a hotdog and some Coca-Cola. Shelby got a hamburger, mixed veggies and Sprite. We quickly walked back over and took our seats. Jaz immediately launched into a conversation.

"So, Tara, how'd the first part of your test go?" She asked as she took a sip of what looked to be Iced Tea.

"Ummm, okay I guess."

"What was the easiest thing for you to summon?"

"The mummy linen," I replied shyly. She looked surprised but it was a good kind of surprise.

"If you specialize in Death Magic you'd be our first _rehket,_ or necromancer, and Walt's first student in years."

"Who is this Walt guy anyway?" I asked and Jaz pointed at one of the men Sadie was talking to. He was tall and muscular, his eyes were a deep chocolate brown and his skin was the color of roasted coffee. He had an arm wrapped around Sadie's waist and whenever he looked at her you would've thought he was looking at the world's most precious treasure. Clearly there was something romantic between the two of them (or as I would soon learn the _three_ of them.)

"What's between him and Sadie?" I asked tentatively.

"Walt and Sadie liked each other back during the Rise of Apophis," Said a voice who I recognized but wasn't Jaz's nor Shelby's. It was Cleo's. She'd come out while we were talking and sat in front of Jaz and I hadn't noticed.

"But Walt had a curse that had been passed down through his family," Shelby continued.

"Y'know how Tut died young, like _really_ young?" Jaz asked me and I nodded.

"Well, the curse takes one's life the more they practice magic. Walt is descended from Tut." Cleo said.

"Wow," I mumbled.

"Yep, so there couldn't have ever been anything between him and Sadie because he'd continued to practice magic. Sadie literally saw Walt _die_ in front of her." Cleo said, glancing over at the couple.

"B-But how did he live?" I asked.

"He became the first host for Anubis, like, ever." Shelby said the awe apparent in her voice.

"Okay, but doesn't that make dating a bit awkward?" I asked attempting to look at the three of them simultaneously.

"Nope," They all said at the exact same time.

"Things between Anubis and Sadie were complicated—" Cleo said.

"—y'see Sadie liked Anubis—" Shelby.

"—but he was off-limits seeing as he was a god." Jaz.

"When he merged with Walt—" Shelby.

"—it gave them the opportunity—" Cleo.

"—for all three of them to be together." All three simultaneously.

"Could you not do that again, that made my brain hurt." I mumbled and all three of them chuckled.

"Okay, I get it now. That is one weird relationship." I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"Don't even get us started on Zia/Ra and Carter." Cleo said with a smirk.

My eyebrow slowly rose but I didn't pursue the subject.

My new friends and I continued to have a wonderful chat during lunch. After lunch the crowd dispersed, heading off to their afternoon lessons. I felt really lost so I just sat on the edge of the terrace and waited for instruction.

I stared out at the East River and sighed as I remembered my house back in Lincoln Park, Michigan. I missed my Mom a lot and now more than ever I felt confused. Things were just too strange and I didn't know what to do. The river below me gave me a small twinge of homesickness as well as sorrow. I remembered when my Mom and I would go to one of the Great Lakes (don't ask me which, there are a few of them and I always get them screwed up) and we'd stay at a little place just near the river that looked over the water. Only now did I realize that my Mom picked it out on the east side of the river. I didn't know how I was going to get through all this without her. I just wished that—

"Hey, I'm Walt Stone and I guess I'm your new teacher." A voice interrupted my thoughts. I glanced over and saw the man, smiling softly at me. It was as if he could read my thoughts (or he just read the expression on my face) because the next thing he said was, "I'm sorry this was all kind of forced on you. I told them to give you a bit more time." He said, pulling up a chair and sitting next to me.

"Time for what?"

"Time to grieve," He replied and I nodded. I wished I'd been given time to grieve over my Mother's death.

I put my chin on my hand and rested my elbow on my leg, even though it hurt to have my hard, rough elbow into the soft flesh of my upper leg.

"I miss her a lot, I-I don't even know what to do anymore," I mumbled.

"That's why Sadie, Carter and I are here. To help show you what to do and to show you that you do still have a family. You're not the only one who's lost some or all of their family. When you come to the Brooklyn House, these people become your family. We're all like a bunch of brothers and sisters. Trust me, the people of the Brooklyn House will grow on you." He reassured calmly and I couldn't help but believe the words he was saying. I wanted, heck I _needed_ to cling to the words coming out of his mouth, embed them in my memory so I have some stability in this time.

I'd only realized that I'd been crying when I sniffed and felt the tears drip and pool on my hand.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"No problem, now before we get started, do you have any questions at all about the Brooklyn House? I know they told you about magic and stuff like that but I'm going to bet they told you nothing at all about how the Brooklyn House operates."

"Okay, actually I'd like to know a bit about the residents, if that's fine with you."

Walt nodded. "Ask away."

"Shelby, she said she'd been here since she was in kindergarten."

Walt nodded again. "Yep, from what I remember of the battle with Apophis when the rebel magicians were attacking Amos, current Chief Lector y'know, she'd scattered crayons down the hall to trip the attackers—which was quite helpful—as well as running between the enemy magician's legs and hitting them on the butts with her wand yelling 'Die, die, die!'" I laughed as I imagined that scene in my mind. Then Walt continued, "Not to mention when she'd turned the metal _shabti_ warrior into a rainbow-colored potbelly pig. She begged to keep it after the battle but we had to say no." He said, chuckling as he told me this.

I chuckled as well.

"So what does she do?"

"She's a _sau_, or charm-maker like I used to be."

"With all that I've heard about her being good with animals I would've thought she'd be like—"

"An animal charmer? No she's a natural _sau._" He said, cutting me off like so many others had before. But since I was getting answers from him I didn't mind.

"Okay what about Cleo?"

"She's the librarian of sorts. She's got an amazing memory too; she can speak 8 different languages fluently now including Ancient Egyptian, English, her native Portuguese and Baboon."

"Yeah, I noticed she could speak Baboon, kind of freaked me out."  
Walt laughed and smirked. "She was talking to Khufu again wasn't she?"

I nodded and then asked, "And why _do_ you own a baboon?"  
Walt shrugged. "It was Amos's baboon and Carter and Sadie said he was here when they'd arrived at the Brooklyn House. Oh have you seen Philip of Macedonia?" Walt asked and I shook my head. He reached behind him and grabbed a small wax _shabti._ "We turn him into a _shabti_ just when we eat so he doesn't try to take the bacon as well as so we can use the pool as an eating area as well." He spoke a word under his breath and threw the wax sculpture into the pool. Moments later a huge albino crocodile appeared in the water.

"Wow…" I mumbled and he chuckled again.

"Anything else you wanna know?"

"Why are there penguins in the fireplace?"

"Felix, one of the jokesters around here, he was 9 when Apophis attacked and he absolutely loves penguins. He used to have a tiny flock follow him everywhere. He's 15 now and doesn't have the penguins follow him any more but he still keeps a few in the fireplace and in his room."

"Okay, that statue in the Great Room, who is it? And what's the symbol on his scroll?"

"That is Thoth, the god of knowledge and the symbol is Per Ankh, House of Life."

"Ah, Thoth, okay."

He looked at the _netjeri_ blade around my neck curiously before asking, "May I ask, why do you wear a _netjeri_ blade around your neck?"

I shrugged.

"My Mom gave it to me the day she died. I don't know why though," I mumbled.

Wheels in his head seemed to turn.

Then he said; "There's no need to test you further, you're a _rehket_."

"How do you know?"

"Your Mother was a Diviner, Tara, she could see the future. She saw that you'd be a _rehket _but she also saw her death on your birthday. She gave you this _netjeri_ blade to show us what you'd be. There wasn't any need to test you. Gods of Egypt, Sadie should've paid attention." He mumbled the last sentence to himself.

"This is all so weird," I mumbled and he let out a humorless laugh.

"Hey, imagine how some of the first initiates felt. We came here not knowing what we were to do with only a memory of a powerful _djed_ amulet to prove that what these people had told us was true. And when we came here we found out that the Egyptian Gods were real and the only way to save the universe and keep the sun from getting swallowed by a gigantic snake was to join with those gods and practice magic."

I couldn't help but laugh, despite all that had occurred in the past few days. It did sound awfully silly but from what I'd heard from Cleo, Jaz, and Shelby that was exactly what had happened but they told it in a much more heroic, adventurous, and slightly romantic way considering what happened with Walt/Anubis and Sadie and then Carter and Zia.

I wiped away any more tears that had leaked down my face and continued asking Walt questions about the Brooklyn House. I asked about the schedule as well as many other things having to do with me being his _only_ student. It meant that I got to train a lot more often than others…..Great.

After talking to Walt for what seemed like an hour or two I'd run out of questions, this also left me in a much better mood than before. I sighed softly and looked over him as one more question popped into my head.

"When do I start my lessons?"

He thought for a moment before replying. His reply was short and terse;

"Now,"


End file.
